Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1887-06-10
DAILY EBB AND FLOW
or THE HUMAN TIDE BETWEEN
NEW YORK AND BROOKLYN.

The Tin Bucket Brigade-LOng Lines of
People HorryIng TO the Big Bridge.
Running for the Ferry BOats-Thc Re-
turn Tide.
live In Brooklyn, and every morning
and evening make one of the innumerable
throng (about zoe, 600, they think who
cross and recross East river, and see q
deal of curious humanity in the process.
As come over at all hours from O TO \ a.
m, and return with the same latitude,
alternate my company very agreeahly.
First is the tin bucket brigade; but only
see them when walk down to the bridge
before breakfast. About 5 o'clock the
throng begins. First como tho scavcngerS
and sweepers, the women who sweep out
the offices, the boys who do the early
morning work, the first relief Of messcn-
gers and their contemporaries. a littlo
later every car is crowded with laborcrs,
brawny men of the pick and hammer;
about 10000 of them come over before 2
o'clock. Then there is a lull for few
minutes; but soon after breakfast ono
sees long lines of people on oil the streets
near the bridge, hurrying to tho stairs
merchants, Wall street men, clerks, chop
girls, writers and people of q hundred
other occupations.
Before 7:30 the entrance stairs are
jammed with moving humanity. The
tickets are dropped in tho box below
three cents each or forty for a dollar,
the cars are opened and filled in ten ccc-
onds--first c0mers seated late coIncrS
hanging on TO the straps-thcn the clamp
Is turned ON to the running cable and we
are whirled across to Park row II two
minutes. Each car win seat forty persons
and generally holds fifty; there are three
cars in each train, and one train min
ute; SO 5000 people per hour arc brought
over in the cars. The foot passengers
way, below the car track, is crowded at
the same time, and the carriage way, too;
so at least 40, 1000 people come over on the
bridge every morning.
ALL THE FERRY BOATS RUNNING.
Meanwhile all the ferry boats are run
ming at their best. For two hours each
morning and evening they charge but one
cent for passage-the same as footmcn pay
on the bridge; at other hours two cents.
Walking to the foot of Fulton street,
Brooklyn, any morning about 7:30, | OBJ
serve several hundred people break into
run all at once; the clang at the dock has
warned them that boat is in and time
is so precious that they don't want to lose
the next boat. But it is a well established
principle of my constitution not To "kill
myself to keep myself and / never run
for q train or boat. The roomy passenger
depots are nice places to wait in, anyhow;
but it is curious to see the 1idgcty people
press against the big iron gate, ready to
jump for the next boat as soon as it is
made fast and the gate run back
And is all this rushing and crowding
good for humanity? Certainly not A
fellow is swallowed up; his individuality
is lost; he is not a self existent and re-
spected man, but merely one unit in a
vast aggregate of numbers Nobody
knows anybody; and from the rush for
first place, and the push for seats, should
guess that nobody cares for anybody. /
have crossed ON the cars dozen times,
and can't remember that have seen the
same person twice. Soon after a. m.
there is q perceptible thinning of the
crowds, both on bridge and ferries; then
people of more leisure come over, and
from 10 o'clock till 2 p. m. one may see
rich dresses on the cars or elegant car
riages on the roadway. About D. IN.
the return tide begins to rise, and about
$50 the throng is much more dense than
in the morning. The crush is awful Al
most every day some one is painfully
squeezed against the iron railing, and oc-
casionally some feeble one is badly bruised.
Going over from to one sees only
dense crowd of wearied people; about z
or 1:3O the return cars contain some of
these people, cooled and refreshed bound
for the evening entertainments in New
York; the shop girls who went east in
plain and shop worn dresses are now,
many of them, going west in rather elegant
evening costumes. A dozen first class
theatres and at least fifty second and third
class bring some thousands; the others
scatter among scores of churches, Iyceums,
clubs, concert halls, and social gatherings
OF every conceivable kind III. Beadle
in Rockville Tribune.